A long-established technical ceramics distributor with UK and French operations had a website problem that’s common for businesses selling abroad. Its content was spread across several old domains, including a separate site for the French market, so visitors and links were spread between several sites rather than one main website.
We rebuilt it as a single multilingual WordPress site: English as the main version, French in its own /fr/ section of the same domain, both powered by our in-house translations plugin. This post explains how it works in plain English, how we moved several domains into one while preserving routes from the old URLs, and how the same set-up prepares the site for AI search.
Why multilingual websites often lose rankings
Running separate sites for each language is like opening a second shop under a different name. Customers, and Google, split their loyalty between the two. Links earned by the French site don’t help the English one, and the business has more sites to maintain.
That was the position here. Links and content were divided across the legacy domains instead of sitting under one address. The old platform was also dated and hard to maintain, with no structured way of holding two languages, and it lacked a clear structure for the language versions.
The alternative is one shop with signs in several languages. One domain, with each language in its own clearly labelled section.
One site, many languages: how the set-up works
Google’s own guidance recommends giving each language version its own URL, rather than switching the language based on cookies or browser settings. Googlebot usually crawls from the USA without saying which language it prefers, so content that changes on the fly may never be seen. Google also recommends linking between language versions and not automatically redirecting people based on where they seem to be.
So we built the site around separate, crawlable addresses:
- English is at the root of the domain, as the main version.
- French lives under /fr/, on the same domain, with its own French URL slugs. So an “about” page becomes a French address like /fr/a-propos/ rather than a copy of the English one.
- Requests are routed by URL, so the address alone tells the site which language to serve.
Google lists subdirectories like /fr/ as easy to set up and low maintenance, because everything stays on one host. That suited a business that wanted to manage both languages under one brand and domain.
Telling search engines which page is which
Each page tells search engines about its other-language version using hreflang tags. These say “this is the French version of that English page”, so Google can show the right one to the right searcher. Google is strict here: every version must list itself and every other version, and if two pages don’t point to each other, the tags are ignored. That’s the kind of detail that’s easy to get wrong by hand and easy to get right in code.
What we built: the plugin and how editors use it
The heart of the build is Webshape’s in-house webshape-translations plugin.
For the people editing the site, the important part is simple: one page holds both languages. The French content sits in dedicated fields against each English page. There is no second site to log into. Editors can see the French fields alongside the English page, making it easier to notice when a translation needs updating.
The framework has room for five languages. The English site is the main version, and the French pages are publicly reachable under /fr/. Portuguese, Spanish and Japanese are available in the same framework if the business needs them later. Adding a language is an extension of what’s there, not a rebuild.
We paired it with two other Webshape plugins: webshape-seo, which handles structured data, meta and organisation details for multiple offices, and an on-page AI assistant. Keeping these as small, purpose-built plugins fits how we build: fewer third-party plugins, more control. If you’re wondering how many plugins a site really needs, we’ve covered which WordPress plugins you actually need.
Moving several domains into one without losing search equity
Consolidating domains is where most multilingual projects go wrong. Old addresses have years of links and rankings attached to them, and if they simply stop working, that value goes with them.
We mapped the old domains onto the new site with 145 redirects. Where an old page had a clear equivalent, it got a permanent (301) redirect. For pages still being rewritten, the project used temporary (307) redirects at the time of the brief. These should be reviewed and changed to permanent redirects once the final destinations are ready.
That distinction matters. Google treats a permanent redirect as a strong signal that the new address should replace the old one in results. A temporary redirect isn’t used that way, and Google may keep showing the old address. Google says permanent redirects signal a lasting move, while temporary redirects do not carry the same signal. A site move can take weeks or longer to settle and rankings can move during that period.
For more on what to expect after a move, see website migration SEO: what actually changes after launch and how long a website migration takes.
How did we prepare both languages for AI search?
We also made both language sections accessible to search and AI tools. The rebuild included two additional steps:
A hand-built llms.txt file. llms.txt is a proposal, first published in September 2024, for a plain-text file that gives AI tools a short summary of a site and links to its most useful pages. It’s not a formal standard, so we treat it as a sensible extra rather than a guarantee.
AI search crawlers explicitly allowed. The site’s robots.txt allows named AI crawlers such as OpenAI’s OAI-SearchBot, which is used for ChatGPT Search. OpenAI says sites that block it won’t appear in ChatGPT search answers.
Because the French pages have their own addresses, they’re open to these tools in the same way as the English ones. If you want to check where your own site stands, our website AI readiness audit looks at these signals.
What can we say about the results so far?
The rebuilt site launched on 20 July 2026. English and French pages are available under one domain, with language switching and hreflang in place. We also mapped 145 old URLs to new destinations. These are delivered changes, rather than evidence of a particular traffic or enquiry increase. We would need dated Search Console and enquiry data to report that outcome.
Is a multilingual WordPress build right for your business?
If you sell abroad and your content is spread across domains, start by listing every existing page, its language and the closest page on the proposed new site. Then decide how your editors will maintain translations, what happens when a page has no equivalent, and how old URLs will redirect. Those decisions matter more than choosing a plugin by its feature list alone.
If your business sells abroad and your website is split across domains, or only really works in English, we’d be happy to talk it through. See our web design services or book a call with us.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Give each language its own address, such as a /fr/ section, and link the versions together with hreflang tags. Avoid switching language based on cookies or the visitor’s location, because search engines may never see the other versions. Whether you use an off-the-shelf plugin or a custom one depends on how many languages you need and how your editors work.
For most small and mid-sized businesses, one domain with language sections is simpler to run and keeps links and reputation in one place. Separate country domains can make sense for very different markets or legal entities, but they cost more to maintain and split your search authority.
There’s usually some movement while Google processes the change, and Google says a move can take a few weeks or more. Mapping every old page to its closest new page with a permanent redirect is what protects the value you’ve built. Skipping that step is where rankings are lost.
You can use it as a starting point, but have a fluent speaker review anything customer-facing, especially technical specifications. A mistranslated product detail costs more in lost trust than the translation saved.
They tell search engines which pages are translations of each other, so a French searcher is shown your French page rather than the English one. They only work if every version points to all the others, which is why they’re best generated automatically.
It depends on the number of languages and pages, translation and review work, any custom features, and whether existing domains need migrating. Map those requirements first so the quote covers content, redirects and ongoing maintenance as well as the build.
